11:59 (episode)
In the 24th century, Captain Janeway discovers what she once believed about one of her favorite ancestors might not be true. In the late 20th century, Shannon O'Donnell's broken down car leaves her in Portage Creek, Indiana where she meets Henry Janeway, the town's only opponent to the Millennium Gate that a major corporation wishes to build. Summary Good morning Captain Kathryn Janeway walks through a corridor on her way to a turbolift when Neelix, 's chef and morale officer, joins her. He hands her the requisition reports for that week and asks her what she could tell him about the Great Wall of China, who built it and why. Janeway states the obvious, that it was built by the Chinese to keep people out. When they enter the turbolift, Janeway orders it to deck one, while Neelix tells her more facts about the wall and that it was one of the only objects before the 22nd century that could be seen from Earth's orbit with the naked eye. Janeway congratulates Neelix with his knowledge about Earth. When the turbolift arrives at the bridge, Janeway is told by Commander Chakotay that they are on course to the Class Y cluster and will arrive in about three days, while she and Neelix walk to her ready room. Janeway asks why Neelix is so interested in the Great Wall of China, and he tells her that he has been studying Earth landmarks. In her ready room, Neelix tells her that he and Tom Paris have been exchanging cultural knowledge about Earth and Talax and that Paris has become very knowledgeable about Talaxian geography. Janeway then asks Neelix what he knows about the Millennium Gate. Neelix recites the Millennium Gate specifications - its height, base width, and surface material. He states that it was built in the United States of America in the 21st century. It is also one of the objects which can be seen from Earth orbit. Janeway tells him that it became a model for the first colonies on Mars and that one of her ancestors, Shannon O'Donnell, built it, not with hammer and nails, but with words. On family gatherings, Janeway was always told that Shannon O'Donnell was one of the first women astronauts and the driving force behind the Millennium Gate, the first of a long line of Janeway explorers. Neelix asks Janeway to tell him more, so he can impress Tom Paris. He learns that Shannon O'Donnell was in the space program at the time and that she was asked by the governor of Indiana, who wanted her expertise about re-cyclic life support systems. According to Janeway's aunt Martha, Shannon was flown around in a private aircraft. 05:00 AM, December 27, 2000 In the early morning of December 27, 2000, Shannon O'Donnell drove through the state of Indiana. Her car made a strange bumping noise while she added one of the state's curiosities, the world's largest ball of string, to her personal log, which was a small cassette player on the passenger seat. Seeing the Millennium Gate billboard, she headed to Portage Creek, where she hoped that someone could take a look at her car. Driving through the town, she stopped to ask a passer-by where she could find food, gas, and lodging. The man told her those things could not be found any more in Portage Creek. Irritated, Shannon drove off but failed to look ahead and ran into another car. The other driver asked if she had insurance and she told him it had run out. He said that two hundred dollars would be enough for the damage, but she told him that she did not have that kind of money. The other driver accepted his loss and left. When Shannon tried to start her car it failed to start. After Shannon called a tow truck, she looked around for a place to keep warm while she waited. She found that Alexandria Books was the only open store. Once inside, she met the proprietor and his son, Henry and Jason Janeway, and asked them if she could wait for the tow truck in their store. She told them she was trying to get to Florida when her car broke down. She heard Jason joking that Shannon was a corporate hit man and she grinned as she explained to him that she did not do that kind of work anymore. Henry Janeway welcomed her and offered her a cup of coffee. Shannon observed that most stores in town seemed to be closed. Jason replied that their store would never close. As she noticed their fliers lying on the counter, they told her that they were fighting the building of the Millennium Gate, "the world's first self-sustained civic environment" according to Jason. Henry found this to be propaganda; he thought it was nothing more then a glorified shopping mall. Shannon offered to help distribute the fliers using her computer if Henry would hire her. But they told her that they did not need any help. Edging towards the door, Shannon asked again for a job. She said she really needed the money to pay for her car repairs. After an uncomfortable silence, Jason pleaded for his father to hire her. Henry reluctantly agreed. Later that evening, Shannon and Henry visited a local bar and discussed Portage Creek. They talked about the Millennium Gate and why Henry was against it. Shannon learned that Henry would have preferred to have lived in the classical age. Shannon preferred the modern age. They summed up the pros and cons of each. They got stuck on the presence of cold beer in the classical age or better the absence of it. When Henry asked her if she had plans for New Year's Eve she told him that it would be no different than last year- she planned to be asleep. She asked if Henry believed all the noise about the beginning of a new millennium, whether it would cause all those problems like so many said, and if he believed all those hucksters who claimed that 2001 was the real millennium and not 2000. As far as Shannon herself was concerned, those years were nothing but numbers on a calendar. Shannon mentioned Jason telling her that the bookstore had belonged to his family for generations and told Henry that she was just the opposite. She loved to visit places where she had never been before and didn't like staying in one place for too long. She found that she was an explorer. Henry grinned and told her he thought her car looked more like a sailing ship than a real car. She told him that it was actually a rocket ship. Their conversation was interrupted when a rumbling sound shook their beer glasses. They left the bar to see what this sound was and saw trucks driving by. The next day Henry Janeway argued with Gerald Moss, who was being interviewed by Marci Collins of '3 Action News'. Henry plead his case and returned triumphantly when he overheard Moss tell Collins that if Henry's resistance was not resolved, then the Millennium Gate would be built somewhere else. Henry told Jason and Shannon that all they had to do was to stand firm until New Year's Eve. When Henry and Jason walked into the store Shannon watched Gerald Moss making a phone call. He seemed to have noticed her presence. That evening Shannon and Henry had a simple meal in the bookstore, which was illuminated by a few lamps and candles. Henry pretended they were in Paris. He placed a book about that city alongside the table and told Shannon he never had left the state of Indiana; he found himself more comfortable with his books. She asked Henry about her car and he told her that it had been repaired and it was parked behind the garage. Shannon remarked that he should have mentioned that earlier that day. Henry said he forgot. Shannon said she would leave the next day but Henry reminded her that she promised Jason to show him some tricks on her computer. Remembering, Shannon agreed. She thought he made it difficult for her to say goodbye. During their meal they seemed to get along quite well despite their differences. Ancestors In astrometrics, Captain Janeway was viewing technical data on the Millennium Gate when Seven of Nine walked in. She asked Seven to help her find more information about the era in which the Millennium Gate had been built, because most of it was lost or damaged. Janeway told her that the Gate had been built by one of her ancestors over three hundred years earlier. Although Seven found the Millennium Gate impressive, she questioned its relevance to Voyager's mission. Janeway told Seven that it was relevant to her. When Seven replied that she possessed only a fraction of her ancestor's DNA, Janeway told her that it was not about chromosomes but about character. Seven asked her to explain and Janeway replied that Shannon O'Donnell inspired her when she was young - she had a great influence on her imagination and goals, and she was the reason why Janeway joined Starfleet. Later, Seven was researching historical data in the mess hall when Tom Paris and Neelix walked in. They were testing each other's knowledge about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Paris poured himself a cup of coffee just as Neelix was about to name the seventh wonder, but he could not remember it. Paris tried to recall it, but he could not remember what it was either. Their contest was interrupted when Seven of Nine told them that the seventh wonder was the Lighthouse of Alexandria, built by Ptolemy II in 280 BC. Paris sarcastically named Borg photographic memory a modern wonder of the world and told Neelix the knowledge test was a draw and walked away. Neelix, curious as always, asked Seven what she was doing. Seven told him about her Shannon O'Donnell project. Neelix offered to help and noticed the PADD containing information about a Sven "Buttercup" Hansen, an ancestor of Seven's. The captain encouraged Seven to research her own genealogy but she questioned Buttercup's relevance to Seven's life. As far as she was concerned their name likeness was a coincidence. Neelix told her that there was some of him in her just as there would be some of Seven in her descendants. Seven replied that this only would be the case if she chose to procreate, and that she could not appreciate Neelix's joke about a "Seven of Nine Point Five" running around. When her computer could find no references on Shannon O'Donnell, Seven said that her research had failed. Neelix told her that researching genealogy was a lot like fishing – she had to use a wider net, and ordered the computer to expand its search to non-Federation databases, personal archives and photographic indexes. When the computer finished searching it displayed one reference about Shannon O'Donnell. In the captain's quarters Neelix and Seven showed Janeway what they had found: a picture of Shannon Janeway with her children and grandchildren. Neelix told her that the photo came from a Ferengi database. Eleven years earlier a Ferengi historian collected vast amounts of data about the origin of Federation space travel. The Ferengi wanted to market this information as nostalgic gift items. Janeway said she probably would be his first customer. Seven told her that they also found journalistic articles about the resistance against the building of the Millennium Gate. Janeway observed that the entire town was against Shannon O'Donnell. She asked Neelix to download the image so she could frame it. December 30, 2000 Shannon O'Donnell was watching '3 Action News' in the local bar. She was planning her route to Florida where she wanted to visit a cousin of hers, when Gerald Moss walked in. He quoted the slogan her class came up with during her NASA period. Moss felt sorry for her that she had not made it at NASA and asked if she had stayed in touch with her former classmates. When Shannon told him she did not, Moss told her that a classmate of hers made it into to the space program and was scheduled for four months on the space station and that he was sorry that she had lost her job. He found that engineers did not receive the respect they deserved. An annoyed Shannon told him he had nothing to do with her personal life on which Moss told her that they always screened their future candidates and made her a job offer. Shannon could be an consulting engineer on the Millennium Gate project, but the catch was that she had to convince Henry to give up his resistance against it. Moss thought Henry might listen to her because she seemed close to him, Shannon told him she had to think about his offer whereupon Moss told her not to wait too long. The next morning Shannon woke up from a dream about the first landing on the moon, which she watched on television when she was eleven years old. When she walked into the bookstore she found Jason playing with her computer. He enjoyed the games but got vaporized when playing Matrix of Doom, and she advised him to launch a flare before entering the steel fortress. Shannon was offered a cup of coffee by Jason who told her his father went out shopping in Bloomington and that he was in charge of the store for the time being. When Shannon was asked by Jason if she had any children she told him that she never got around to it and in return asked him were his mother was. Shannon learned his mother died when he was very young and she asked him if he liked working in the bookstore and what his opinion was about the Millennium Gate. Jason thought the Gate might be pretty cool. When asked by Shannon if he ever saw the first landing on the moon he told her that he saw it once in his science class. Just after eleven o'clock Henry Janeway got back with supplies and Shannon read the article about him in the local newspaper and got into an argument with him about the Millennium Gate project. Shannon found the Gate more than a glorified shopping mall and admitted there was a commercial dimension but explained that it was an experimental biosphere. It was a completely self-sustained city that would help scientists to learn more about the environment so, one day, they could recreate it on other worlds. Shannon confessed she would like to leave Earth and its problems one day and told Henry that the Millennium Gate had a lot of potential. She accused him of living in the past, of being afraid of the future. Shannon told Henry that Gerald Moss had offered her a job, at which he accused her of sleeping with the enemy. Shannon told him she might be a consulting engineer on the Millennium Gate project; Henry got angry with her and asked her what would happen if he told her not to accept. Shannon told him she did not wanted to live in her car any more. When Henry asked her to stay she told him she could not, Shannon was afraid to get stuck in Portage Creek like Henry was. An angry Henry Janeway helped her pack when Jason walked into the room; Shannon told him she had to go when Jason asked her why she was leaving. Family histories In Captain Janeway's quarters, she, Harry Kim, Tom Paris, Neelix and Seven of Nine passed their leisure time by exchanging family stories. Harry was telling about his uncle Jack, who commanded a mission to Beta Capricus in 2210, a deep space mission at that time. The journey took six months and his uncle piloted the spacecraft the entire time - the rest of the crew was in stasis. When he arrived it turned out that Beta Capricus did not exist, but was indeed just the misinterpreted image of a distant galaxy. Jack did not wake his crew because there was nothing to do or see and returned to Earth. When they arrived six months later, Jack brought the crew out of stasis and they wondered why they hadn't left Earth's orbit. The laughter of Harry and his colleagues was interrupted by the door chime; it was the Doctor, who wanted to hand the Captain a report but who did not want to intrude. When Captain Janeway told him they were talking about their ancestors, he asked if he might join them. When Janeway agreed, he told them that he, too, had ancestors. When Tom Paris joked that his cousin was a electric shaver, he was corrected by the Doctor who told him he was compiled from the most advanced holomatrices in the Federation; his cousin was an advanced prize-winning chess program. Seven of Nine told Ensign Paris that he did not yet tell them about his ancestors. According to Tom there was not much to tell; most of his ancestors were salt of the earth type of people. Some were planetary colonists and others were farmers, and one of his ancestors was a pilot who flew the first orbital glider over the lower Martian plateau. When Neelix mentioned that his ancestors might have know Captain Janeway's, he asked for her name, but did not recall Shannon O'Donnell ever mentioned in relation to a Mars mission, and he knew every Mars mission from the 1970s on, and who participated in them, by heart. Captain Janeway was in her ready room reading a newspaper article on her computer terminal about Henry Janeway when Chakotay entered to show her the ship's status reports. She found some more data from the 21st century, but most of it was fragmented and incomplete, and she guessed about the contents of Chakotay's report. "The holographic engineer was having trouble with her program, Neelix the Cardassian cook was low on supplies, Seven of Twelve was regenerating and Captain Chakotay was doing fine." A smiling Chakotay listened to her and told her that it depended on how big the pieces were when she asked him how future historians would describe their lives on Voyager a few hundred years from now. Janeway went to dozens of history files about 21st century Earth and found that every alien culture saw Earth's history different. Vulcans described First Contact with a savagely illogical species, Ferengi revered Wall Street, and even viewed it as holy ground and Bolians expressed their dismay about the low quality of Human plumbing. So she researched the basics - birth, death and marriage certificates, court records, housing records, etc. but she found it all incomplete. When Chakotay asked her if Shannon O'Donnell existed, a slightly disappointed Janeway told him Shannon did exist, but she only trained to be an astronaut and did not work on any of the Mars missions. She was an engineer who worked on the Millennium Gate as a consultant and the Gate itself was welcomed with open arms; there was no opposition except by Henry Janeway. Shannon married him but did not change history, only her name. Chakotay told Janeway not to be so hard on her, Shannon did not know she had to live up to the expectations of Kathryn Janeway. 11:59 PM, December 31, 2000 Three hours before Moss' deadline, he and Shannon O'Donnell watched '3 Action News' in the local bar. Henry Janeway's resistance was still the main news topic. Moss told Shannon that the building of the Millennium Gate would be delayed if Henry Janeway could not be persuaded to give up his resistance before midnight. Shannon told him she had to leave for Florida but Moss told her he still could use her on the alternate building site of the Millennium Gate in Canton, Ohio. When Gerald Moss wanted to leave the bar, Jason Janeway came running in and told Shannon his father still refused to leave the bookstore and that a crowd was gathering; even the police were present. Shannon told Jason his father could take care of himself. When Jason plead her to talk to him she told him that he would not listen to her, although she liked Henry and Jason Janeway she told Jason she was sorry, it didn't work out. At 11:15 PM Shannon drove out of Portage Creek and recorded her experiences into her personal log. She would not forget the last days and found Henry Janeway an interesting man – he liked to talk, but refused to listen to anybody but himself. Shannon reminisced about her dinner in Paris with him and found his son Jason as bright as his father. While eating a chocolate chip cookie, she decided to return to Portage Creek. When Shannon drove into the street where the bookstore was located, she noticed the police line and walked up to the bookstore, where Gerald Moss told a policeman to let her through. Followed by a '3 Action News' camera, Shannon walked to the bookstore entrance. Shannon knocked on the door and told Henry to let her in. When she entered the store, she grabbed his coat and told him they were leaving; she even threatened to drag him out of the bookstore if he refused. Shannon told him it was over and accused him of living in the past without any thoughts about the future of his son or Portage Creek. When Henry asked why she had returned, Shannon told him it was because of the chocolate chip cookies which she bought when she left Portage Creek - they didn't taste the same without him. Shannon told him she'd like to stay with him and Jason but she did not wanted to work in a bookstore for the rest of her life. Shannon told him that he lived in the past while she wanted to live in the future, and maybe together they could try to live in the present. She also told him about the offer Gerald Moss made to her, but that she was prepared to turn him down if Henry wanted her to stay. Henry hesitated for a short time and told her he could re-open his bookstore in the Millennium Gate, whereupon Shannon told him she probably could get him a nice location in the Gate where nobody would bother him. When Henry asked her if she would ever leave him again she told him that if she would, they would leave together. When Henry asked the time she told him it was 11:59. Just before midnight, Shannon and Henry left Alexandria Books bookstore and Henry closed his store for the last time. When they left the store they were applauded by the gathered crowd. Happy Ancestors Eve Kathryn Janeway was in her quarters staring at the stars when Neelix contacted her via her combadge. He asked her to come to the mess hall; there was no emergency but he wanted to speak to her personally. When Captain Janeway entered the mess hall, she was greeted by her friends who toasted "Ancestors Eve". When she asked what it was all about, Neelix told her it was April 22, Ancestors Eve, a holiday he had established that very day. Commander Chakotay told her Neelix had a point: an evening of reflection in honor of those who had come before. Harry told him that his uncle Jack would approve and B'Elanna Torres had at least a reason to crawl out from under the warp conduit she was working on. Janeway appreciated the gesture, but was interrupted by Tom Paris, who told Neelix to give her the present. Neelix handed her a framed photo of Shannon O'Donnell-Janeway – he said that he had done some more research and told her it was taken around 2050 in a park near Portage Creek, 38 years after the dedication of the Millennium Gate. Neelix thought a nice place for it would be on the shelf near her desk in her ready room. Janeway thanked him but told Neelix she was not sure that Shannon O'Donnell belonged there. Seven of Nine told her she was wrong, Shannon captured her imagination and historical details were irrelevant. Tuvok concurred with her analysis and Chakotay told Janeway that she would not have joined Starfleet if it wasn't for Shannon O'Donnell. The Doctor grabbed his holocamera and placed it on the bar. After he prepared it he told everyone to gather around the Captain and to face the camera. They toasted to family when the camera took its picture. In the Portage Creek park, Kieran placed his hand behind his sister's head, making her look like a donkey after their picture was taken. Shannon told him to stop it and placed him on her lap and pointed towards the camera which brought his attention to it and a big smile upon his face. Background Information * The date of the episode is given as April 22, 2375. * This episode (which first aired in 1999) predicted that the Y2K bug would not "switch off even a single light bulb", which was almost correct. A nuclear power plant in Japan had a monitoring computer go down briefly, and minor events elsewhere occurred, but nothing major. * When Neelix suggests that the Great Wall of China is visible from space, he does not specify the altitude. According to some NASA astronauts, the Wall may be visible from lower orbits, but not higher ones, as it averages a width of only six meters, about the same as the width of the bridge. * Janeway has extensive (albeit, somewhat incorrect) knowledge about Shannon O'Donnell that she said she learned at family gatherings when she was younger. In , she claimed she did not know anything about what her relatives were doing at the close of the 20th century. The explanation of this apparent incongruity is that O'Donnell's legend takes place during the 21st - Janeway did indeed not know what O'Donnell was up to before the Millennium Gate was built. * There is a model of the hanging from the rear-view mirror of Shannon O'Donnell's car. * In the dinner scene, there is a pinball machine behind Shannon. Though blurry, it is Fish Tales. * Jason and Shannon's repeated phrase "Nobody but us galliforms" is a reference to the very first broadcast Star Trek episode, . The crew beams down to an uninhabited planet, Elizabeth Dehner asks if it really is uninhabited, and Kirk responds "Nobody but us chickens." Video and DVD releases *UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 5.12, . :This is the final ''Voyager volume released by CIC Video. Paramount Home Entertainment would release the remainder of the series, following CIC's dissolution.'' *As part of the VOY Season 5 DVD collection. Links and references Main cast *Kate Mulgrew as: ** Kathryn Janeway ** Shannon O'Donnell *Robert Beltran as Chakotay *Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres *Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris *Ethan Phillips as Neelix *Robert Picardo as The Doctor *Tim Russ as Tuvok *Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine *Garrett Wang as Harry Kim Special guest star *Kevin Tighe as Henry Janeway Guest stars *Bradley Pierce as Jason Janeway *John Carroll Lynch as Gerald Moss Co-stars * Christopher Curry as Driver * James Greene as Passerby * Kristina Hayes as Field Reporter * Majel Barrett as Computer Voice Uncredited co-stars * Tarik Ergin as Ayala * Unknown actor as Kieran Janeway References 3 Action News; Achilles; aerospace engineer; aircraft; Alexandria; Alexandria Books; Ancestors Eve; antibiotic; Neil Armstrong; astronaut; barbarian; beefsteak tomato; beer; Beta Capricus; Bloomington; Bolian; Boulevard St. Germain; boxing; Buck's; caffeine; Canton; Captain's log; car; Cardassian; chess; chicken; China; Chinese; chocolate; chocolate chip cookie; Christmas; Class Y cluster; claustrophobia; coffee; Colossus; computer; consulting engineer; cookie; corn; Leonardo da Vinci; e-mail; Earth; Earth history; Earth landmarks; electric shaver; EM echo; emperor; Ephesus; European; Ferengi; First Contact; fishing; Florida; flying saucer; Forbes; Ford LTD Country Squire; Ford Mustang; French language; galliform; genealogy; Great Wall of China; Greek; Halicarnassus; Sven "Buttercup" Hansen; Glorious Hector; Hell; Hercules; huckster; Indiana; insurance; Interstate; Jack (Captain); Janeway, Martha; journalist; The Last Supper; light bulb; Lighthouse of Alexandria; lion; lower Martian plateau; Luna; Martian colonies; Mars; Matrix of Doom; Mausoleum of Halicarnassus; McMillan; Millennium Eve; Millennium Gate; The Morning Observer; NASA; newspaper; New Year's Eve; oatmeal; oatmeal cookie; Odysseus; Ohio; orbital glider; PADD; Paris; Pat; PC World; permit; plumbing; police; Portage Creek; Priam; Ptolemy II; Qin; recyclic life support system; Rhodes; rocket ship; Roman; Rome; sailing ship; Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; SK; string; Talax; tax; telephone; television; Temple of Artemis; Texas; Third Circle of Hell; tow truck; Troy; Volkswagen; Vulcan; Wall Street; Working World; Y2K bug; Zeus Timeline * 1970s; 1999; 2000; 2003; 2012; 2050; 2210; 2375 |next= }} Category:VOY episodes de:23 Uhr 59 fr:11:59 nl:11:59